This invention relates to joint structures for furniture, phone booths, room space dividing panels, decorative panels, frames and the like, as well as to flexible fastening clips therefor.
Many joints, such as between modern furniture parts, are now fastened together by concealed mechanical connectors. Many of these concealed fasteners employ keyhole slots and stud like fasteners. Generally, this type of furniture fastening system includes short recessed areas along the edges of furniture members to be joined together. Fasteners or clips are mounted within the recessed areas of one furniture piece and studs are mounted on the other. The fasteners engage the heads of these studs in a keyhole slot, then seat the stud to firmly engage the separate furniture members. Examples of such fasteners and furniture fastening systems are U.S. Pat. No. 3,491,820 invented by E. J. Ostling, entitled FLEXIBLE JOINT STRUCTURE AND CLIPS THEREFOR and U.S. Pat. No. 3,996,718 invented by R. M. Welch entitled FASTENING APPARATUS FOR PANELS.
Fasteners of the type described above function very well but are limited to applications making use of furniture parts which are large enough to have a surface area sufficient to attach the fastener clip. It is desirable that these clips be concealed to provide a finished appearance to the piece of furniture so constructed. Such concealment requires the fastener clip, when seated within the recess on the furniture part, to be surrounded by a lip two or three sides thereby reducing the surface area available for affixing a clip. Further, since such fastener clips are normally attached to the furniture part by two screws, if the screws which fix the clip to the furniture piece are located too near to the edge of the furniture piece, the furniture will fracture or split and the joint will fail. Although the clip flanges which carry the screws can be reduced in size, it is necessary that sufficient space be left between the concealing lip and the slot entrance to accommodate the stud head and allow it to enter the clip. Such considerations limit the amount these flanges can effectively be reduced in size.